A TRIP TO 'FRISCO FAIR (AND ELSEWHERE)

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 27 September 1915, Page 2

A TRIP TO 'FRISCO FAIR (AND ELSEWHERE)

1 (By "TE WHABE.»'^ -. j (Continued). At Santa Barbura we visited the nns-' fv ah^' less K^an 4000 Indian, aSo trenches tour and five deep, and onl •S2. n°r ri trac^ ~the ri^gos m all dirTtions. There were at that time a population oi 1400 Indians living i* a vs2£» close to the mission church* One iarS 100m j s kept for relics alone, and in tS tT h ft** many Priceless Paintings and sculptory are on the balls, brought trom Spain some couple of centuries ot the old rrassionaries and one bishop lie at rest and a special vault in the chuicli-yard is keptror deceased broth! ers of the Institution. The first mission *as built by the Indian converts of Adobe but a serious earthquake de tit- & and "; ow *«e who!e building is ot brick, and the buttresses of the bell tower are no less than 18 feet thick, to act as 3 sort ot anchor should the place be visited by such another bad shake. I note with sadness that although these hotels have, hundreds of adver- • tising tolders putting forth the adv!sability ot people visiting various interesting parts of the States and also of taking a trip to Hawaii and Samoa, and in not^one instance havej yet se^n a bSSahSS Pap<i r ' ptittinS before these ' beul S l h*ed. People the benefits they would derive by a visit to New Zealand ' whilst they are about it! Let me lav :n ' passing, that the coffee one gets at all 1 the hotels and cafes is the best we ever I A£- e tea is not so eo(sd After spending one day at Santa' Barbara, we left for Los Angeles. Stop-overs' are only granted when one take^ a long journey of, say, three or four fays So we had to take a |mg]e ticket for the 371 miles to Santa .Barbara and another for Los Angeles and if one takes a return ticket to the east your signature is taken upon the ticket, and upon coining. back again before starting a special clerk hiae to get you to validate your ticket before commencing the journey. This is to prevent transferring the ticket by sale or otherwise to anyone else. Tie hotel and grounds of the "Porter" at the beautrful Santa Barbara beach and the ''Arlington'' m town are two of the finest and best appointed tourist places to be met with anywhere. The public swimming baths and the beautiful and n^ iff e £^u °f O6 are noticeable, and although the place is full of wholesale and retail bottle stores there are no drinking bars to be seen anywhere. Ihe electric cars, 'too; are different, tor here the conductor and the doors are half-way along the car. He opens, the rolding doors, which also automatically lets down the steps of the side one has to go' in or go out, and one drops the fare (5 cents) into a receptacle that he is standing against. Although we tried to dod<?e the "tipping" imposition as far as possible, we found it not easily dodgable in some instances. For instance: Our ideas were rudely blasted in relation to our dear friend the porter on the ■train aforesaid, for we found his love was us but "cupboard love" after all; for upon giving us a whisk over with his corn broom before leaving the train he quietly informed us that he was giving us an extra "brush up" in the hopes of getting an -extra big "tip," as it was by the courtesy of the company that he was allowed" to be on the train, that he received no salary, and that he could only make a "good living at it by being extra polite to passengers. If one is visiting the same cafe regularly it. is as well to tip the waiter, for you will get good services if you do and very bad if you don\. The reason for the cafeteria, where everyone arms himself, firstly, with a tray, tools/ and serviette, and then proceeds to pick out the items of food he wants, and carries tray" and all to the table, was really a device to dodge the evil system of tipping. It is a treat to see the beautiful gardens coming right down to your feet as one walks along the wide and beautifully paved streets lined with giant pepper trees. It is rare that one sees any fences round a mansion or park, and all dogs taken out for an airing must be on the leash. j On the road to Los Angeles we noted j hundreds of oil well derricks at Sunderland, most of them being right out in the sea itself. There- are beautiful groves of. all kinds of fruit trees, and many fences to these plots are the I small sunflower. The locomotives are run by oil, and there is no dust or smoke to mar the scenery or to get into one's eyes. The coast, however, where there is no irrigation, is woefully dry and parched up. ' At Los Angeles we put up at the new Rosslvn Hotel of 800 rooms, and meals at 25 cents all round—a beautifully appointed place, and well run by Hart Bros. Can't help noting the bitter anti-British feeling that pervades the country wherever we nave yet been, and often have we heard such expressions as "Infernal British," especially from ladies, as they have eyed us in car trips, trains, and elsewhere. We never hear the newsboys crying out anything else but such items as "Four more British ships sunk," "Another great German victory," etc.

(To be continued.)